The Citizen, 2011-02-10, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 10, 2011
Volume 27 No. 6SPORTS- Pg. 9Local Ironmen come upbig at awards banquet AGRICULTURE - Pg. 15 Huron County PorkProducers hold meetingLETTERS- Pg. 6Auburn residents fire backafter councillor’s commentsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Agricultural Society holds 150th annual meeting
Remunerations
under budget in
Morris-Turnberry
Returns department
Jeremy Grisdale returns a serve during a volleyball tournament at Central Huron Secondary
School while Josh Van Soest looks on. Grisdale and Van Soest are students at Blyth Public
School, and their team went on to be runners up in the tournament on Feb. 3. (Denny Scott photo)
The Brussels Agricultural Society
held its 150th annual general
meeting on Friday with a look back
at its past and a glimpse into its
future.
The society welcomed Brussels-
area resident Paul Nichol of the
Huron Business Development
Corporation as the guest speaker for
the evening, which began with a
potluck supper at the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community
Centre.
Nichol discussed several different
aspects of the rural economy. He
detailed the reality of the rural
Ontario economy, things that keep
him up at night and bright lights that
should be focused on in the future.
Nichol began his speech with an
item from an issue of The Brussels
Post from 1966. Featuring some new
events proposed for the Brussels Fall
Fair, including a “race” between
clowns that would include some
members of the Gentlemen’s Club
and Brussels Village Council that
began several miles west of
Goderich in Lake Huron with a
cooking stove chained to the ankles
of the participants.
Nichol said that there are plenty
opposing forces in rural Ontario.
Some of these push-and-pulls were
between population growth and
population stability, big and small,
urban and rural as well as individual
and community.
Many of these struggles surround
the cost of living versus the quality
of life. Nichol said that there are
many things to be proud of regarding
living in a rural community such as
Huron County, but with reduced cost
of living comes school closures,
healthcare issues and a constant
struggle with the upper tiers of
government.
Issues that Nichol says keep him
up at night are the “tyranny” of
democracy. He said that one of the
issues surrounding democracy is that
the money tends to follow the
people, which it should, but with a
smaller population, rural
communities can often struggle with
services and funding because of the
smaller population.
Nichol also said that while global
warming is a very serious concern
throughout the world, from a Huron
It cost less than budgetted to run
Morris-Turnberry council last year.
Figures released at the Feb. 1
meeting of council showed the total
for honorariums, meeting costs and
convention expenses was
$97,278.76, more than 15 per cent
less than the $115,000 in the budget.
In 2009 total council costs were
$111,834.96.
Mayor Paul Gowing suggested the
fact councillors no longer attend
area fire board meetings or meetings
of the Wheels Away transit system
helped reduced the cost. Someone
else pointed out that costs were
significantly reduced because
former councillor Mark Beaven
missed so many meetings in his final
year, finally being removed from
council for non-attendance.
Former Mayor Dorothy Kelly had
the highest salary and expenses
totalling $20,016 from January to
the end of her term in November.
She received an honorarium of
$7,277 for attending 31 regular
meetings plus meeting expenses of
$9,388 for 66 meetings other than
regular council sessions. She had
$3,351 in conference expenses and
travel.
Former Deputy-Mayor Jim
Nelemans had $17,771 in total
expenses (including CPP
contribution). He received an
honorarium of $4,678 for attending
30 regular meeting plus $9,388 for
attending 65 special meetings.
Conference expenses and travel
totalled $3,074.
Current Mayor Paul Gowing
totalled $15,619 for this 11 months
as councillor and one as mayor.
He received an honorarium of
$4,289 for attending 32 regular
council meetings and $7,495 for
attending 44 special meetings. His
conference expenses and travel were
$3,392.
Former Councillor Edna
McLellan received a total of
$11,788 in salary and expenses
including an honorarium of $3,628
for attending 31 regular council
meetings and $5,714 for 31 special
meetings. Her conference expenses
and travel cost $2,446.
Former councillor Lynn Hoy had a
total of $11,302 in salary and
expenses. He received an
honorarium of $3,628 for attending
30 regular council meeting plus
$5,453 for 27 special meetings. His
conference expenses and travel were
$2,221.
Former Councillor Bill Thompson
attended 29 regular council
meetings and received an
honorarium of $3,628. He received
$5,501 for attending 32 other
meetings. His conference expenses
and travel totalled $1,964.
Beaven attended 10 regular
council meetings and received an
honorarium of $1,975. He received
$883 for other meetings and had no
conference expenses.
The incoming council members
each received an honorarium of
$330 for attending two council
meetings in their first month on
council, except for Deputy-Mayor
Jason Breckenridge who received
For the second time this winter,
delivery problems last week meant
some subscribers were late receiving
their issue of The Citizen.
“We apologize to our readers who
were inconvenienced by the delay,”
said Keith Roulston, publisher of
The Citizen.
“With the closure of the printing
plant in Goderich, the paper is now
being printed in London. We’re at
the mercy of the weather and the
trucking company to get the paper to
Goderich where we can pick it up.”
Last week the truck started out
early Wednesday but the driver
ended up in the ditch. He got pulled
out and tried again but was then
stopped by closed roads.
The paper was finally delivered
early Thursday, 24 hours later than
normal. The Citizen’s mailing staff
made a valiant effort to deliver the
paper to the many area post offices
they must travel to in order for
people to get their paper in a timely
manner, but many people would
have already picked up their mail for
the day.
“I want to thank our staff and post
office employees for their efforts to
get the paper in readers’ hands as
quickly as possible,” Roulston said.
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Continued on page 22
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Snow delays ‘Citizen’ delivery
Continued on page 6